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Clearwater turns to the Internet to spread its message
By LESTER R. DAILEY
| Article published on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 |
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| The Clearwater Police Department is reaching out to a younger audience who are familiar with social networking Web sites like the department’s page at www.myspace.com/bluelinecpd. |
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CLEARWATER – By mid-March, the city’s Public Communications Department is hoping to implement Mayor Frank Hibbard’s idea of having a place on the city’s Web site, www.MyClearwater.com, where old-timers can reminisce about the “good old days” in Clearwater.
People who grew up in Clearwater or had some other connection with the city will be interviewed on videotape by city staffers and the interviews will be shown on a feature called Clearwater Stories.
“They’re people who have a story to tell,” department spokesman Shawn Stafford explained. “That can be anybody who has a story about Clearwater. If they’re from Michigan and vacationed here every year, that would be perfect. We also have several stories that focus around certain buildings, such as the old post office, the Coachman Building and the Fort Harrison Hotel.”
Between 50 and 60 interviews have already been done, and requests for interviews are pouring in.
“We’ve gotten at least 30 more interviews in the past two weeks,” Stafford said. “They come in every day.”
The hard part is finding a format that suits all the interviews, which range in length from 30 minutes to more than three hours. Stafford has produced a trial piece on Windows Media Player that he hopes will be a prototype for the project. And former City Councilman Bill Jonson has been a big help in launching the project, according to Stafford.
“I’ve learned a lot,” Stafford said. “It’s nice to learn how the people lived, and it has been enlightening to see the pride a lot of Clearwater residents have.”
The online social network MySpace isn’t just for lonely teenagers anymore. The Miami-Dade Police Department; the Miami County, Indiana, Sheriff Department; the Kennesaw, Georgia, Police Department, the New York City Park Police; the Florida Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit and now the Clearwater Police Department are among the law enforcement agencies that have their own MySpace pages.
“As the way people communicate changes, so must we,” said Elizabeth Daly-Watts, public information spokeswoman for the Clearwater police and fire departments.
“The idea behind CPD’s MySpace page is to reach today’s generation in a familiar platform. This is another tool in our toolbox to help us with recruitment and community outreach efforts.”
MySpace viewers can now view the CPD’s popular Blueline CPD, which can also be seen on the city’s Web site. The 30-minute interactive program, hosted by police Chief Sid Klein, features the latest in crime-fighting equipment and a video ride-along with a Clearwater police officer.
In other technology-related news, the CPD has updated its records management and computer-aided dispatch systems.
“Everyone knows that technology changes at the ‘speed of light,’” police Sgt. Gregory Stewart wrote in a news release. “Things are no different in law enforcement and at CPD. As CPD’s records management and dispatch systems have become old technology, inefficient and non-supported by today’s standards, replacements are necessary.”
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Article published on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008
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